-The Telegraph New Delhi: Budget cuts in several schemes for minority, Dalit and tribal students have prompted academics and activists to question the government's commitment to the education of marginalised communities. A section of the budget papers presented on Monday, titled "Expenditure Budget, Statement 22", shows a fall in allocations to many schemes compared with last year's budget. For example, allocations for pre-matric scholarships for minorities and Dalits have fallen by over 10...

-The Hindu Muslims, who form 27.01 per cent of West Bengal’s population, “constitute a very large proportion of the poor” in the State, Professor Amartya Sen said. He was releasing a voluminous report on the condition of Muslims in West Bengal titled ‘Living Reality of Muslims in West Bengal.’ “The fact that Muslims in West Bengal are disproportionately poorer and more deprived in terms of living conditions is an empirical recognition that gives...

-Hindustan Times The whole society is culpable in Dalit scholar Rohith Vemula’s death but the focus should also be on why the media can be held responsible for this heart-wrenching case of suicide. Vemula wished to reach the stars and dreamt of becoming a Carl Sagan but became yet another victim of institutionalised discrimination based on caste. His death has turned into a livewire, sparking unseen levels of protest across India from...

Representatives of around 20 civil society organizations and NGOs met the Finance Minister Shri Arun Jaitley as part of pre-budget consultation on social sector on 12 January, 2016. Immediately after the pre-budget consultation, a press conference was held by some of these organizations to convey the media persons what demands/ suggestions were made.   Subrat Das, Executive Director of Centre for Budget and Governance Accountability (CBGA, http://www.cbgaindia.org/) informed us that during...

-The Telegraph New Delhi: A rough comparison between a government survey of all the country's campuses and a more limited scan earlier by the Rajinder Sachar committee suggests that Muslims' participation in higher education has seen little improvement over the past decade. Sachar, a retired judge, told The Telegraph the latest findings buttressed his view that the UPA government had failed to adequately implement its educational schemes for the minorities, announced after...